


Back to you

by alievans007



Series: Back to You [1]
Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, leverage - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 03:36:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16756915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alievans007/pseuds/alievans007





	1. Chapter 1

SNEAK PEEK

It was those stupid, beautiful blue eyes. Those are what drew me to him in the first place. What did me in was his voice. That voice that commanded attention and usually made people obey. 

I never intended to fall in love with Eliot Spencer; I knew what he was. He was a drifter, a nomad. His work took him all over the world for long stretches of time. Yes, I knew what he did for a “living.” He was a “retrieval specialist” for a group of thieves that helped people in need. They called him a “retrieval specialist” but I knew what he did: He beat the shit out of people when needed. It was romantic in my mind, a man who helped those who needed it. For years I was content, I was in love, and I knew he would always come home to me...until he didn’t. I waited, of course. I waited for him to come home for three years before I accepted that he either found somebody else or he died. My heart said that Eliot had finally been bested and that he was no longer among the living. My head reminded me at every turn that before me he was a womanizer so the more likely explanation was that he had found somebody else.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

It all started at the Bean City Espresso, a little coffee shop in Boston, MA.


	2. Chapter 1

It was those stupid, beautiful blue eyes. Those are what drew me to him in the first place. What did me in was his voice. That voice that commanded attention and usually made people obey. 

I never intended to fall in love with Eliot Spencer; I knew what he was. He was a drifter, a nomad. His work took him all over the world for long stretches of time. Yes, I knew what he did for a “living.” He was a “retrieval specialist” for a group of thieves that helped people in need. They called him a “retrieval specialist” but I knew what he did: He beat the shit out of people when needed. It was romantic in my mind, a man who helped those who needed it. For years I was content, I was in love, and I knew he would always come home to me...until he didn’t. I waited, of course. I waited for him to come home for three years before I accepted that he either found somebody else or he died. My heart said that Eliot had finally been bested and that he was no longer among the living. My head reminded me at every turn that before me he was a womanizer so the more likely explanation was that he had found somebody else.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

It all started at the Bean City Espresso, a little coffee shop in Boston, MA. I was on my way out the door and he was on his way in. He was concentrating so hard on whatever it was that he was doing, that he just about bowled me over on the sidewalk. Luckily (or not), he caught me like a dancer dipping his partner.

“Sorry,” he said, his eyes looking deep into mine; then he smiled. He’d grabbed my coffee as we connected so luckily none of it was spilled on me.

I wanted to call him a jackass. I wanted to tell him to look where he was going and call him a jerk. But I found myself smiling back at him and suddenly I heard myself saying, “It’s okay.”

And so it went for a few days after that. We met every day outside the coffee shop, he waited so he could hold the door for me and flash me that devilish smile. I looked forward to our little encounters, always staying to chat a little longer each time. We chatted about stupid things, things like the weather or how the coffee was that morning. We both knew it was leading up to one of us asking the other for their phone number. I was secretly hoping he wouldn’t make me make that move because in all honesty, he intimidated me a little.

Then, on a Thursday our relationship was changed. He had been running late, he told me after. It was a good thing he was or else who knows how things would have turned out? As I left the coffee shop that morning, I was lost in my disappointment of having to open the door for myself, wondering if he’d just been visiting and went back to wherever home was. 

“Hey, pretty baby,” a man’s voice said from behind me. I knew it wasn’t Eliot so I just huffed out a sigh and turned around.  
“I’m not interested.” I said to the man. He looked young and there was trouble in his eyes. 

“I didn’t ask if you were interested.” He said reaching for my arm.

“No!” I said loudly, tearing my arm out of his grip. 

“I said I didn’t ask,” he sneered.

“The lady said no.” A voice growled from behind us. I let out a sigh of relief. 

“This don’t concern you,” the man turned to Eliot. 

The look Eliot gave the man made my blood run cold and also made my lady-bits tingle.

 

“That’s right, it don’t.” Eliot said. “And you want to keep it that way.”

“Yes, sir,” the man squeaked out and quickly walked away. 

“Oh, thank God you showed up,” I put my hand to my heart. “I was scared there for a second.” 

“Sorry I was late. I got caught up at work.” He smiled at me. “If I’d been here sooner that never would have happened.” 

“Well, you’re here now.” I put my hand on my arm. I don’t know why but touching him felt right at the moment.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he rubbed the back of his neck, like he was nervous. “I’ve got this work party that I have to attend and I was wondering if you’d like to join me.”

I had to stop myself from visibly fangirling. “I’d love to.” I was barely keeping it together. We decided to meet outside of the building where he worked. 

He grabbed my hand, “I look forward to seeing you tonight.” He smirked again.

Oh boy.


	3. Chapter 2

Turns out the building we met at was a pub. I was a little taken aback at first. I didn’t know exactly what I expected him to do for a living but working in a pub was not it. Of course, like I’ve said, later on in our relationship I found out what the pub actually was and what he did for a living. 

The introductions to his coworkers were interesting. Nate and Hardison seemed to blow me off. Sophie welcomed me with open arms. She told me later--after I found out about Eliot’s former womanizing ways--that she knew I was different the moment she met me. She said that she knew Eliot was smitten with me and that he’d found somebody he could share his lifestyle with and not have to fear that I’d run away screaming. 

“Nice to meet you, my name’s Rose,” the blonde said with a beautiful Georgia accent. Eliot kicked her stool leg.

“Parker,” he half-growled.

“Fine, I’m Parker.” The blonde huffed and shook my hand. “I wanted to be a Southern Belle this time.” She sniffed me. “You smell good,” she smiled at me. 

Needless to say, I was very confused by that introduction for a very long time.

That night was amazing, nevertheless. I talked to Nate, Sophie, Hardison, and Parker for a little bit. They were very nice people. Parker was a bit odd but I learned to accept it in time.

Pretty soon, Eliot and I sat in a booth opposite each other with a couple of drinks and talked. A few days later it hit me that we mostly talked about me that night. It became a red flag later on when Eliot would rarely talk about himself until I found out why. But back to that night. 

It seemed like we talked for an hour. But we had talked all night and into the early morning hours. We talked about my life like my childhood, high school days, job, hobbies, dreams and aspirations. All too soon it was time for me to go home to get a few hours sleep before I had to go to work. 

Later, when we met at the coffee shop like usual, Eliot asked me on a date. I was over the moon ecstatic. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. It seemed like a lifetime. I had never been so head over heels infatuated with a man before. 

I met him at his apartment that night around 7 pm...well more like 6:45 because I cannot be late for anything. It smelled heavenly in there. I still don’t know what he was trying to cook for me but whatever it was, it had smelled good.

He brought me a glass of white wine and we sat on his couch. We got into a long conversation until I smelled something burning. When Eliot came back from the kitchen, he was a little frustrated. He informed me that we’d be having pizza that evening since dinner had been ruined. 

“What do you to do cool down when you get frustrated?” I asked, honestly curious on how a man like him blew off steam. 

“I generally work on my self-defense techniques.” He answered, smirking. 

Of course I was intrigued by this answer. We spent the rest of the evening eating pizza in between him showing me simple ways to protect myself. I was more than a little turned on by the time I left. Especially since Eliot was a very hands-on instructor and the only experience I had was the karate I learned when walking into a spider web. 

Eliot walked me out to my car. He leaned in and softly brushed his lips against mine. I involuntarily moaned and he deepened the kiss. It would have gone a lot farther except his phone rang. He growled which turned me on even more. 

“Yeah,” he barked. “Fine, I’ll be there.” He huffed a sigh, flipped his phone closed and ran a hand through his hair. “I have go away for work.” There was regret in his eyes. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

I finally slipped him my number and told him to call me when he got back. I needed to see him again.


	4. Chapter 3

Rating: MA

Triggers: Violence

A week later I got a text message from Eliot saying he needed to see me. I had to wait until after work which was a bummer. Adulting sucks.

Tears immediately welled in my eyes when he opened the door to his place. His eye was swollen shut. He was covered in bruises.

“What the fuck happened?” I demanded.

“You should see the other guy,” he smiled at me.

“This isn’t funny. Eliot!” I practically screamed at him.

“Okay, okay,” he held his hands up in front of him. “There was a small fight.”

“A ‘small fight’? It looks like you went twelve rounds with Mike Tyson!” I huffed a sigh. “Where did you go that you got into a fight on a business trip?” I was torn between being mad at him for his joking about the seriousness of the situation and crying over how horrible he looked.

“Nebraska…” he trailed off.

“Nebraska?” I wasn’t sure I heard him right. “Did you just say Nebraska? What do you do that takes you to Nebraska and gets you into a fight?”

“You look amazing,” he smiled at me. “Looks like my trip to Nebraska did you good.”

“You must have a concussion,” I muttered. “Do you do this often? Get into fights?” I was a little concerned about his temper at this point if he was getting into fights during business trips. Remember, this was before I knew what he did for a living.

“No...well...sometimes,” he looked guilty, “I have a different kind of job.” 

“What do you do?” I asked.

“It’s hard to explain.” He smiled at me. I have to admit I got lost in his stupid blue eye...even with one eye swollen shut he charmed me with one eye. “I just really needed to see you.”

I went to hug him but he held up a hand, grabbing his ribs with the other hand. It made me feel bad that he was in such pain.

We settled on the couch with sports on the tv. I had him rest his head on my lap while I played with his hair. It wasn’t long before he had fallen asleep on me. It was the first night we spent together. I didn’t get much sleep since I was pretty uncomfortable but I didn’t mind. I even called in sick the next day to help take care of him. We ended up laying in his bed, snuggling and watching movies all day. 

~~~~~~~

 

A few days later at work, Brian Mastrioni walked up to me and started flirting. Every woman wanted Brian. Hell, even I wanted Brian. He was blonde haired, blue eyed, fit, sexy as hell. I had had a crush on Brian since I started working with him. And it seemed, as he let “slip” that he’d had his eye on me for awhile as well. The problem had always been that we were never single at the same time. Except, now we were. I mean, I wasn’t really with Eliot. We’d barely kissed. And the day we spent together is when I noticed for the first time that Eliot rarely talked about himself. What did I really know about him? He got into fights and had a different kind of job. He’d also been radio silent for the past two days.

I knew a lot about Brian. We’d been colleagues for five years. Brian and I had gone a lot further than Eliot and I had. Of course, Brian and I were both pretty drunk at a Christmas party for work and we’d taken a cab back to our prospective apartments without sleeping together. 

Brian told me to call him later and we’d set up a date. I smiled at him, agreeing. Why not? It’s not like I had any better plans. Eliot had dropped off the face of the Earth. What was there to lose? I texted Brian later that night to set up a date.


	5. Chapter 4

“I saw it and thought of you. Elephants are for luck. There are four different colored pearls that you could get. White is for wisdom; cream is for success; peach is for health; purple is for wealth; and black is for love. Go ahead, open the oyster. Let’s see what you get.” He was almost giddy with excitement.

I carefully used a sharp knife to open the oyster and gasped. It was the most beautiful white pearl I’d ever seen. I plucked it out of its home and placed it inside the elephant that Eliot had taken off the chain and opened for me. 

“It’s beautiful.” 

“White for wisdom. A good fit.” He smiled, pulling my hair out of the way so he could clasp the necklace behind me. He placed a soft lingering kiss to the side of my neck that made me melt.

“I should have gotten you a gift.” I said coming out of my revery and remembering that I was miffed with him. “The gift of truth and honesty. I guess that’s two gifts.”

“I want to tell you, Liv. But I don’t think you’d understand. What I do isn’t exactly legal.” He said sadly. I could tell by the way he said this that he’d walled himself off from rejection because of what he did.

“What? Are you a drug dealer or something?” It just slipped out of my mouth. I couldn’t stop it and blurted out the first illegal job I could think of.

“No!” He exclaimed. “Nothing like that. Look, Liv, I’ve tossed away a lot of women because of what I do. They won’t understand...you won’t understand. I don’t want to tell you because I think we can have a great thing here.”

“We can, Eliot. But we can’t have a great thing without being open and honest with each other. You have to trust me.” I implored.

“I’m really into you; can’t we just keep it at that?” He begged.

“Damnit, Eliot!” I slammed my hand down on the counter. “Stop hiding behind your stupid fucking walls and talk to me!”

He grabbed my now throbbing hand and led me to the couch. He sat me down and ran a hand through his hair.

“Just promise you’ll listen all the way through before you walk away?” His eyes were full of fear and regret in such a serious way that he had my complete attention.

“Of course,” Even though he’d just run his hand through his hair, I reached out and pushed a strand behind his ear. “Just start from the beginning. I want to know everything...I want to know everything about you.”

We sat there until dawn as he explained what his job was exactly. I have to admit, I was both turned on and frightened. The fact that Eliot would fight for innocent people who needed help turned me on, but the fact that he put himself in danger frightened me to my core. 

“I’m surprised you haven’t run yet,” He concluded once he was done talking.

“I’m not going to run, Eliot.” I smiled at him. “I think what you do is noble. When you said illegal I was worried, but it’s nice to know that you’re the good guy.”

It was then that he relaxed and leaned in and kissed me. Soon, his tongue was dancing in my mouth, making me moan. I was disappointed and confused when he broke the kiss to stand up. But he held out his hand and I slipped mine into it and he led me to the bedroom. Needless to say, I called in sick for the second time that week but I had never felt better in my life.


End file.
